[Captivate Android Development] jastx:
Believe me DAGr8 and all the gang, I appreciate how much effort went into this (and your input on Andromeda). The number of details to manage is enormous. You have my respect.

I have to vent a little so please bear with me...

In some respects, developers make the problems for themselves. I think the ROM world needs a product for people like me who use their device for business, not just a toy. Develop the basics to be bulletproof first, then add the customized stuff like inverted themes. What I see time and again on these threads is a new ROM release with the fancy difficult-to-create look like inverted thems and other stuff then page after page of stupid minor issues with those fancy creations while the major problems are ignored. For example, themed Market? Why? It's not an app, it's just the place where you get your apps and it updates all the time so why spend so much of your valuable time jacking with it? There is no payoff.

I'm using RC4 now, at least until I can spare time to figure out what to do. I love its smoothness, its speed, in-call volume is good. It seems to be a solid foundation. It's the small fancy stuff causing my problems: The standard inverted theme has so many black on black issues with the apps I use -- I can't read the text. I can't use Choice Dialer (a major app for bluetooth) because EVERYTHING is black, so I have not been able to do Bluetooth dialing -- a MAJOR application I thought this ROM supported and the main reason I switched. My Contact list doesn't sort new contacts properly, like it does with the existing contacts -- big problem. The compass and Google maps compass don't work (and I'm not the only one to report this), not critical but VERY annoying -- having a compass point in the right direction is a basic expectation. These are basic business user needs that must work for a ROM to be usable.

I came from Andromeda 2.0, not even the latest release. Everything worked great except call volume was low, it lagged a little and I couldn't get bluetooth dial to work. I was hesitant to upgrade to 1.2 because it had lots of discussion about minor problems. I didn't want to break what wasn't broken. Finally it seemed like the developers were abandoning it and it wasn't going anywhere so I started looking around.

I found Dragon with the same sharp people developing it and newer firmware. It had enough promise that I went for it. It has the potential to be great but it's flawed by lack of focus on the basics. It's so good one of my alternatives is to use the non-inverted SteelBlue theme because it has no black on black issues, even if the theme is (and please take this in the spirit in which the word is used)..."gay" with all the little droidies popping up everywhere you look -- it makes me sick. I can search for another theme I like and see if one of you smart guys can port it.

- I can go back to Andromeda, but v1.2 and use a different kernal for better in-call volume. It's not the latest thing but I pretty much know it works.

- I can experiment with another high-level firmware product like CyanogenMod 7 with 2.3.3 firmware. But who know what issues I'll encounter there.

Anyway, vent over. You guys are creative and incredibly talented. You do great work and have the ability to make this ROM kick butt. It's all about your limited time and where you spend it. Focus on the basics first. Create a decent non-invertive theme with a clean, sophisticated interface with absolutely no little droids, no happy faces, just a modern clean look. Make the basics of the ROM work as they are supposed to. Fix the performance issues like Contacts and compass. After the basics are solid, then worry about invertive themes, what battery life indicator you want to use and how to stop the Market theme from reverting.

Sorry for the long post. Thanks.